Tag: middle school

Posted in Math is Awesome!

Classroom Decorations in Math

Posted on by teacherscoutmom

This year, I decided, was going to be the year that I add some more color to my classroom.  Being in a middle school math classroom, I was afraid this wouldn’t be very easy, not like in those cute elementary school classrooms anyway.

Luckily I found these two super cute decorations at Hobby Lobby.  For the Welcome to Math Class Sign, I used Command Hooks  and some cute sticker letters to write Math on the chalkboard middle and hung it outside my door.  The other one I put on the inside above the pencil sharpener so the kids could see it.  I loved the extra color, the cute designs and… the 40% off coupons from Hobby Lobby!

Classroom Decoration

Classroom Decoration Math

While looking through Pinterest and other sites, I came across this math blog by Sarah Hagan, a high school math teacher, Math = Love and she had some amazing ideas.   On her site, I found this little gem which she had already typed using the super cute font and had it ready to download.  All I had to do was print, cut, glue and laminate.  If you would like a copy of this, you can access her site from here.   This went up outside my classroom door above My Welcome to Math Class Sign.

Classroom Decorations Mathematicians

Like me, Sarah Hagan had read a great book called Mindset, The New Psychology of Success.  Over the last couple of years, I had begun teaching the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.  This I believe  is especially important in math as I have heard from numerous students and parents, “I’m not good at math”  and “I can’t do math.”  I’m thinking she may have heard things like that also as she had a neat board called “Change your Mindset, Change your Words.” On this board, she had several sayings both in a fixed mindset and growth mindset.  What’s even better, is that she had these ready to download free of charge.  You can access her site here.   Using her site, I was able to download the posters and create a board of my own called “Help!!”  In my classroom (and others around the building,) my students aren’t allowed to say “I don’t get it” without saying the word “yet”.  Also sayings like “This is too hard” and “I give up” or “I quit” aren’t allowed.  If this is heard, my other students usually quickly jump in to correct them and help is given but they must keep trying.

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset Bulletin Board classroom decoration

Using the growth mindset has really changed the way the students learn.  They are looking at something challenging in a more positive way without giving up.  As the year progresses, I’m looking forward to adding more great anchor charts, more additions to the growth vs fixed mindset theme,  and additional math decorations to the walls throughout the new school year.

Posted in Kahoots, Math is Awesome!

Rounding and Comparing Decimals Kahoot

Posted on by teacherscoutmom

Kahoot Time!!  My students absolutely love hearing that.  They are usually very quick to get out their computers and log into Kahoot in record time.

If you have never used Kahoot! before, you can create them for about any topic or subject. The registration is completely free.  Click here to read my blog introduction to Kahoots.  Our students absolutely love them and love competing against each other.

As the school year starts to gear up,  I thought I’d share a couple of new ones that I found  that I thought were really great.  Looking forward to adding some new ones for my students this year.

Rounding Decimals –  5th Grade rounding to the nearest whole number, tenth, hundredth and thousandth.  10 questions that are each set for 1 minute.

Multiplication Facts – This is a great one that I like to use for a warm up (to get their brains thinking about math and to generate excitement.)  This Kahoot has 17 questions that are all 10 seconds each, testing their multiplication facts.  I tell them the faster they answer with the correct answer the more points they win and they are constantly competing to try and make it on the leader board.  I will definitely use this one again this year.

Comparing Decimals – This is a good one that I would like to try.  However, I’m going to add a few more comparing decimals problems since there are more questions about naming the place value than comparing.

If you need a quick assessment tool or would just like to play a quick game, then Kahoot just may be for you.  All you need is a mobile device (computer, tablet, phone) and your children and/or students will love it!

If you’ve never used a Kahoot before check out my Kahoot Introduction. If you would like to see other kahoots,  I have several with different topics that I made under menu, Kahoots  or just click anything below..

 

 

Posted in Kahoots, Math is Awesome!

4 Fraction Kahoots!

Posted on by teacherscoutmom

Kahoot Time!!  My students absolutely love hearing that.  They are usually very quick to get out their computers and log into Kahoot in record time.

If you have never used Kahoot! before, you can create them for about anything. The registration is completely free.  Click here to read my blog introduction to Kahoots.  My husband even created one for my birthday to test our family’s knowledge!  Our students absolutely love them and love competing against each other

The following Kahoots are a few that my 5th graders have used to assist with their fraction knowledge.

  • Least Common Denominator – This quick warm up was adapted from user SrR3ss and has 5 questions.  Students play this game to quickly practice finding the least common denominator.
  • Simplifying Fractions – This game has 13 questions in which students practice simplifying fractions.  Included is 10 math questions and 3 brain break questions.  For example, “Who is this lovable Disney character?” Feel free to make a copy and delete these or add to them.  This kahoot was adapted from user gretchenp.
  • Adding Fractions – This kahoot has 10 questions with 8 of them using math and 2 quick brain break questions.  This was adapted from user petty415.
  • Adding and Subtracting Mixed Numbers – This kahoot was used as a review before our quiz.  It contained 8 questions: 2 brain breaks, 2 word problems, 3 adding and subtracting with regrouping and 1 converting improper numbers to mixed numbers.

If you need a quick assessment tool or would just like to play a quick game, then Kahoot just may be for you.  All you need is a mobile device (computer, tablet, phone) and your children and/or students will love it!

If you’ve never used a Kahoot before, please check out my Kahoot Introduction.  If you would like to see some other kahoots, I have several with different topics that I made under menu, Kahoots  or just click anything below..

walmart, math, mistake
Posted in Math is Awesome!

Math Mistake at Walmart- Energy drinks for $98 each??

Posted on by teacherscoutmom
walmart, math, mistake
Not sure I will be purchasing any Rock Star Energy Drinks from this location….

1??

So… back to my spiel about why I always tell my students to check their work.  I always ask them a single question, “Does their answer make sense?”  If they say “no,” they have to go back and see what they missed. If it does, awesome!

Someone working at our local Walmart forgot to check their work.  If energy drinks prices are going up to $98 a can, I think I may begin to worry…  However, it did make a great start to my math lesson last week. My 5th graders got a good laugh out of their bell ringer word problem.

dice, place value, grade 4, grade 5, grade 6
Posted in Math Games

Decimal Dice Game For Grades 4-6

Posted on by teacherscoutmom
dice, place value, grade 4, grade 5, grade 6
Decimal Dice Game – A game involving place value, adding and comparing decimals to the thousandths place

Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend a NCTM (National  Council Teachers of Mathematics) conference in Minneapolis, MN.  One of the booths that was represented was a booth from Box Cars and One- Eyed Jacks.  (Their website is located here)

I bought some of the coolest place value dice.  They were about 50 cents each and you can buy them online also however the shipping is expensive.  I also found them on Amazon located here for decimals and whole numbers. Each of the dice had a particular number on them -see the picture below.

 

So when I got back home, I tried to think of something to do with these awesome dice.  At the time, we were working on adding and subtracting decimals so I made the worksheet above.  In it, the kids received one each of the tenths, hundredths, and thousandths dice.  Their job was to take turns rolling the dice and then adding them together. Once they got their numbers, they had to compare it to their partners.  A colleague of mine suggested that they could compare their numbers and determine which had the largest decimal therefore hitting not one, but multiple common core standards at the same time.

The kids had so much fun with these dice.  I bought several of the larger place value dice as well.  My next task is to develop some additional games or worksheets for students to write numbers in standard, expanded and word forms with those.

If you would like a copy of the worksheet above that I made, click here and you can print your own copy.  I also have a store at Teachers Pay Teachers that has some more awesome math stuff.

If you would like to see some other awesome games I use in my classroom, click any of the links below, or go to menu, Math is Awesome, Math Games.

Posted in Math Anchor Charts

Place Value Patterns- Multiplying & Dividing by 10

Posted on by teacherscoutmom

Place Value Patterns- Moving the Numbers!

place value, 5th grade
Place Value Patterns- Moving the decimal places

Part of our curriculum in 5th grade is to recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left.  (Arkansas Mathematics Standards)

Students also need to understand why multiplying or dividing by a power of 10 shifts the value of the digits of a whole number or decimal and explain patterns in the number of zeros of the product when multiplying a whole number by powers of 10.  This is not just for whole numbers but decimals place values up to the thousandths place.

This year we were working with a program called Eureka Math.  They illustrated a great way of moving the numbers back or forth when multiplying and dividing instead of just moving the decimal, which is a quick short cut way that leads to misunderstanding.

So, until the students understood what was happening in actuality to the numbers  in each place value, they had to draw the place value chart or lines to represent the different place holders in the chart.  Once they could explain accurately what was happening to the numbers, most quickly figured out the short cut way of moving the decimal to the right or left.

I created an anchor chart (above) that helps the students to remember the patterns.   This was easy for them to see and we also put a miniature version in our math notebooks.

Posted in Teachers Pay Teachers Store

Classroom Library Checkout Sheet For Middle/High School

Posted on by teacherscoutmom

During the normal school day, I teach 5 classes of middle school math.  (This is the part where everyone gets excited and says WHOO HOO!! GO MATH!)

But I love to read and have a pretty awesome classroom reading library.  I collect from everywhere, garage sales, flea markets, book stores, Scholastic, you get the idea. However, I don’t have time to manage the books throughout the school year.  So…

In my homeroom class, I have a couple of librarians, these rotate out regularly, and they are the ones who manage the library.  I keep a clipboard in the reading area with several pages of a checkout sheet and also a book return tub next to it.   The checkout sheet contains places for my students to write their name, date, title and class period.  There is also a return date column on the end.  This sheet helps streamline my librarians work.  They usually highlight the books returned and they know exactly who hasn’t returned a book.

Since doing this, I have reduced my amount of workload as well as keeping my books (they were walking off because I couldn’t take care of it.)  The kids love the responsibility and look forward to their rotation of being the librarian.

A copy of the sheet & label for my tub that I use can be found here…

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Library-Checkout-Sheet-For-Middle-High-School-2601060